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1568.]

BATTLE OF LANGSYDE.

155

But the earls and bishops, the barons and abbots, who, to the number of a hundred and fifty, had assembled at Mary's Council at Hamilton, and had declared the proceedings which had ended in Murray's regency as treasonable and of none effect, these, in the want of a commanding leader, and each with his motives of vague ambition, were unequal to cope with the mastermind of the regent, supported as he was by able counsellors who had every thing to lose, and by enthusiastic reformers whom no peril could turn away from the great cause for which they were as ready to fight as to preach. Murray was at Glasgow, only eight miles from Mary's camp at Hamilton, with an ordinary train, who attended upon his presidency in a court of justice there. Offers of negociation were sent to him from the queen's council; but he issued a proclamation in which he avowed his resolve to support the government of the king. Some advised retreat. He decided not to move, but to gather assistance for an instant attack upon the queen's force. In ten days he was at the head of four thousand disciplined men. Mary's soundest advisers first counselled that she should remove to Dunbarton, which castle had been secured for her; and there, without the hazard of a battle, to endeavour to regain that influence in the kingdom which she had lost from the time of her fatal marriage with Bothwell. But the party of the Hamiltons thought themselves strong enough to destroy Murray, and secure their own ascendency. The march to Dunbarton on the 13th of May, was, however, decided upon; but it was to be made in the face of an enemy who had his choice of attack or delay. Murray's camp was on the moor on the right bank of the Clyde, near Glasgow. The queen's army had its line of advance on the opposite bank. They had to defile through a narrow lane. Grange, who commanded under Murray, saw his advantage, and fording the Clyde with his horsemen, each having a foot-soldier behind him, placed them amongst cottages and gardens on each side of this lane. The queen's vanguard were driven back by the heavy fire which awaited their progress. Murray and Morton had crossed the river by a bridge, with their border pikemen. Morton led an advance, and the conflict was for some time doubtful. Murray had stood for a short time on the defensive against the charges of cavalry; but by an attack upon the queen's ranks with his main force the battle of three-quarters of an hour was decided. The number slain was comparatively small-not more than three hundred on the queen's side, and only two persons on the side of the regent. There is an account in the State Paper Office, headed, "Advertisements of the Conflicts in Scotland," dated May 16, which, in mentioning the flight of the queen's party, says, แ 'At the beginning of which chase the earl of Murray willed and required all his to spare for shedding of more blood." We learn from the narrative, that "the queen beheld this conflict within half a mile distant, standing upon a hill." In that civil warfare she would ill distinguish between her friends and her foes; for "there were divers of the queen's part taken and not brought in, for there was the father against the son, and brother against brother, as namely, three of the Melvins of the lords' side, and two of the queen's." When all hope was lost on the dispersion of her army, Mary rode at full speed towards Dumfries; and never halted till she had reached the abbey of Dundrennan, near Kirkcudbright. On the 16th, having determined to take refuge in England, she crossed the Solway in a small boat, and landed at Workington,

156

MARY TAKES REFUGE IN ENGLAND.

[1568. in Cumberland. On the 17th, while remaining at Workington, she addressed a letter in French to Elizabeth, in which she enumerates the wrongs she had received from her rebellious subjects; describes the battle of Langsyde; and implores the queen that, having come into her country, she would receive her for safety of her life, and further assist her in her just quarrel. She adds, "I entreat you to send to fetch me as soon as you possibly can, for I am in a pitiable state not only for a queen but for a gentlewoman; for I have nothing in the world but what I had on my person when I made my escape, travelling sixty miles across the country on the first day, and not having since dared to proceed except by night."* When Mary arrived at Workington, she was received with kindness by the country gentlemen; and was conducted with respect to Carlisle by Mr. Lowther, the deputy-governor. She was attended by her friends, lords Herries and Fleming. Herries had taken the precaution to write to Lowther on the 15th, to know if the queen could come safely to Carlisle; but Mary was too impatient to wait for the answer, which was to the effect that, without instructions, he could only undertake to receive her with due honour, and to keep her in safety till the pleasure of the queen of England was known.

The position in which the English government was placed by the sudden events of a single fortnight was one of real embarrassment. We say the English government; for to attribute the policy pursued towards Mary to the personal feelings of Elizabeth, and not to the deliberate advice of her counsellors, is one of those mistakes which, in deference to popular views, historical writers have not been sufficiently careful to avoid. There is a paper extant in Cecil's handwriting which shows his extreme solicitude to arrive at a safe judgment upon the most difficult question that had ever presented itself to the sober regard of a statesman. That the queen of Scots should continue to be deprived of her crown, and that the administration of the country should remain under the regency, he holds to be the best way for England, but not the easiest. The escape from Lochleven, the claim of aid from Elizabeth of succour and protection, complicated that safer position which existed when the matters in dispute were confined to Mary and her own people. The queen of England had been strongly opposed to the deposition of Mary; but to take measures for her restoration, in opposition to an established authority which had been confirmed by the Scottish parliament, was to enter upon a war against those Protestant opinions upon which the rule of Elizabeth herself was founded. To permit Mary to return to Scotland without conditions, or to seek for aid from France, would either be a course of no light danger. To suffer her to remain in perfect freedom in England would have been to endanger Elizabeth's own position, by giving encouragement to that Roman Catholic party that held Mary as the legitimate heir of the English throne. Cecil saw all these difficulties, when he had to consider whether Mary's demand of an interview with Elizabeth could be conceded. Sir James Mackintosh holds that in the arguments which Cecil had set down for the guidance of his sovereign, he "had taken a comprehensive view of all the mixed considerations of policy and justice which arose on that peculiarly debateable ground, on which the safety of a people seems to

*Ellis, First Series, vol. ii. p. 236.

1568.]

MARY'S DETENTION IN ENGLAND.

157

create a species of moral right, and to justify those acts which are necessary to secure the undisturbed quiet of the state, even when they deviate from rules which are, with reason, deemed inviolable in any but the most extreme and extraordinary cases." The detention of Mary, the deposed queen of the Scots, and of Napoleon, the abdicated emperor of the French, when each had put themselves in the power of the English government, without conditions, have some parallel in their exception from ordinary rules. Pointing out this general resemblance of the cases, the same wise teacher of political philosophy says, "The imprisonment, though in neither case warranted by the rules of municipal or international law, was in both justified by that necessity from which those rules have sprung, and without which no violence can rightfully be done to a human being." +

The policy of the English government with regard to Mary resolved itself into a determination that there should be a solemn investigation into the truth of the charges against her of being accessary to the murder of her husband. Elizabeth, whatever might have been her notion of the abstract right of sovereigns, was too wise, or had too wise advisers, to listen to the exhortation of Catherine de Medici, " to persevere in the same opinion which you have hitherto maintained, that princes should assist each other to chastise and punish subjects who rise against them, and are rebels to their sovereigns." Sir Francis Knollys, a kinsman of Elizabeth, was sent by her to confer with Mary at Carlisle; and he used an argument towards her, as reported by him to his queen, which opens a large field of exception to the doctrine of the queen-mother of France: "I objected unto her that in some cases princes might be deposed from their government by their subjects lawfully, as if a prince should fall into madness. And, said I, what difference is there between lunacy and cruel murdering; for the one is an evil humour proceeding of melancholy, and the other is an evil humour proceeding of choler: wherefore the question is whether your grace deserved to be put from the government or not." At this argument the tears fell from the eyes of the unhappy Mary. Whether Elizabeth wholly approved of the logic of her representative, or not, the decision of her government was put upon this issue.

The detention of Mary at Carlisle, near the Scottish frontier, being thought dangerous, she was removed in July to Bolton castle. Her indignation at being considered a prisoner was unabated. The factions in Scotland were at open war. A French army was expected with eagerness by Mary's adherents, though she herself disclaimed any knowledge of their intended landing. An armistice was at length concluded between the opposing parties; and a conference was opened at York on the 4th of October. The queen of England was represented by three commissioners, the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Sussex, and sir Ralph Sadler, who, were to hear the allegations of the queen of Scots against her rebellious subjects; and the counter-charges against herself, made by those who had raised war against their sovereign. Mary chose the bishop of Ross and lord Herries, with others, to be her commissioners. Murray was accompanied by four commissioners, with Lethington and Buchanan as assistants. The representatives of Mary set forth the

"History of England," vol. iii. p. 115.

Ibid., p. 121, note.

158

CONFERENCES OF YORK AND LONDON.

[1568. notorious facts of the revolt against her by the usurpers of her authority, of her imprisonment, her deposition, the coronation of her infant son, the regency of Murray, her enforced flight into England. Murray was placed in a position of extreme difficulty if not of danger. Before he brought forward proofs of the crimes of Mary, which could alone justify the course he and his friends had pursued, he sought to receive some assurance that, if the queen of Scots should be declared guilty, he should be sanctioned by the English government in his proceedings, and supported in his office. The assurance was not given; for the question was to be submitted to Elizabeth's own decision. The duke of Norfolk, who afterwards paid a terrible penalty for his espousal of the cause of Mary in the desire to become her husband-not without some inclination to favour her claim to the English crown-influenced Murray to withhold his accusations against the queen of Scots. "The English queen, his mistress," he said, "was resolved during her life to evade the question of the succession, careless what blood might be shed, or what confusion might arise upon the point: as to the true title, none doubted that it lay in the queen of Scots and her son; and much he marvelled that the regent, whom he had always reputed a wise and honourable man, should come hither to blacken his mistress, and, as far as he could, destroy the prospect of her and her son's succession." * In consequence of this influence Murray withheld the real defence of himself and his friends, and made no public charge against Mary. But he privately exhibited to Norfolk, Sussex, and Sadler, the written proofs of Mary's guilt, alleged to have been found in the silver casket. The commissioners of Elizabeth transmitted to her an abstract. of these papers, with this strong opinion of their authenticity :-"The letters discourse of some things which were unknown to any other than herself and Bothwell; and as it is hard to counterfeit so many, so the matter of them, and the manner in which these men came by them, are such that as it seemeth that God, in whose sight murder is abominable, would not permit the same to be hid or concealed." The commissioners of Mary had now an interview with Elizabeth, when she informed them that the enemies of their queen had entirely failed in their defence; but that another conference should be held in London. Murray, after some further hesitation, made his accusation against the queen in the strongest terms; and Lennox, the father of the murdered Darnley, also accused Mary of conspiring his death. Mary's commissioners now required that she should be heard in person by Elizabeth; which Elizabeth refused, until Murray had brought forward his proofs. The commissioners of Mary then took an extraordinary step. They made a proposal for a compromise, by which Murray and the queen should be reconciled. This proposition was rejected by Elizabeth. The bishop of Ross, and his associates, now declared that the conferences were at an end, as Elizabeth had determined to receive from Murray proofs of his injurious charges against Mary, before she was herself heard in the presence of her sister-queen. The discussions and recriminations were prolonged for some time. Murray delivered his proofs as regarded the written evidence of Mary's complicity in the guilt of

* Melvil's Memoirs, quoted by Tytler as unquestionable authority, present at York, but the regent made him privy to this secret interview." "Criminal Trials," vol. i.

Letter from York, October 11, 1568.

66

as he was not only See also Jardine's

1569.] MARY PLACED UNDER CHARGE OF THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY. 159 Darnley's assassination; and her commissioners still persisted in their refusal to re-open the conferences. Elizabeth, as Norfolk had intimated, would come to no final decision. Mr. Tytler, after fully narrating these remarkable proceedings, in which he holds that "both Elizabeth and the queen of Scots acted with great art," says, "so far as we judge of these conferences by themselves, they leave the mind under the unsatisfying and painful impression that the conduct of the Scottish queen, throughout the whole investigation, was that of a person neither directly guilty, nor yet wholly innocent." *

During the conferences at York and London, Mary Stuart had remained under the care of Lord Scrope, at Bolton. By an order of Council in January, 1569, she was placed with George, earl of Shrewsbury, and was removed to his castle of Tutbury, on the 2nd of February. The earl, one of the highest

[graphic][merged small]

of the peers of England, had the burthensome, dangerous, and not very honourable office imposed upon him, of having the custody, for many years, of the deposed queen, who, however strictly watched, was in correspondence, from first to last, with the enemies of Elizabeth and her government; and

* "History of Scotland," vol. vii. P. 268.

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